Success Story
The Zurich-based Fintech company Neon Switzerland uses the Finstar Open API for its account app. The test phase began in summer 2018. In March 2019, Neon officially launched the new account app. As a partner in the background, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg (HBL) has been operating as a transaction bank since the beginning.
Because the company does not have a banking license, Neon customers receive an account with Hypothekarbank Lenzburg upon registration. This transaction bank deal turned out to be a great success for the regional bank. "We had more account openings than we have ever had from regional banks," HBL CEO Marianne Wildi told SRF Börse in July 2019. In October 2019 there were more than 10,000 customers.
Neon and HBL are thus setting an important signal for Open Banking in Switzerland. "Open banking means for our customers that the best products and services are bundled by specialists such as Hypothekarbank Lenzburg or other partners and presented to them in a coherent image. With our Neon app, we are optimizing value creation in the financial sector together with partners from the traditional banking world," said Jörg Sandrock, co-founder of Neon Switzerland, at the announcement of the cooperation with HBL.
Thanks to the Finstar Open API, third-party providers of financial services such as Neon Switzerland can call up capacities in the core banking sector at Hypothekarbank Lenzburg virtually via a banking licence as a service. In the case of Neon, the bank thus ensures that Neon customers in Switzerland and abroad can withdraw cash at ATMs, use their cards when making purchases or transfer money to their smartphone account.
"We would not have been able to invest in our own smartphone banking service because it would have exceeded our financial resources," says Marianne Wildi. In order to realize further scaling potential in the transaction area, the bank intends to invest in the expansion of the system infrastructure.
The Hypothekarbank Lenzburg would probably be too small for a purely digital business model. For this reason, the bank has decided to join open ecosystem structures such as OpenBankingProject.ch for the further development of the Finstar Open Banking Platform.
Success Story
The Zurich-based Fintech company Neon Switzerland uses the Finstar Open API for its account app. The test phase began in summer 2018. In March 2019, Neon officially launched the new account app. As a partner in the background, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg (HBL) has been operating as a transaction bank since the beginning.
Because the company does not have a banking license, Neon customers receive an account with Hypothekarbank Lenzburg upon registration. This transaction bank deal turned out to be a great success for the regional bank. "We had more account openings than we have ever had from regional banks," HBL CEO Marianne Wildi told SRF Börse in July 2019. In October 2019 there were more than 10,000 customers.
Neon and HBL are thus setting an important signal for Open Banking in Switzerland. "Open banking means for our customers that the best products and services are bundled by specialists such as Hypothekarbank Lenzburg or other partners and presented to them in a coherent image. With our Neon app, we are optimizing value creation in the financial sector together with partners from the traditional banking world," said Jörg Sandrock, co-founder of Neon Switzerland, at the announcement of the cooperation with HBL.
Thanks to the Finstar Open API, third-party providers of financial services such as Neon Switzerland can call up capacities in the core banking sector at Hypothekarbank Lenzburg virtually via a banking licence as a service. In the case of Neon, the bank thus ensures that Neon customers in Switzerland and abroad can withdraw cash at ATMs, use their cards when making purchases or transfer money to their smartphone account.
"We would not have been able to invest in our own smartphone banking service because it would have exceeded our financial resources," says Marianne Wildi. In order to realize further scaling potential in the transaction area, the bank intends to invest in the expansion of the system infrastructure.
The Hypothekarbank Lenzburg would probably be too small for a purely digital business model. For this reason, the bank has decided to join open ecosystem structures such as OpenBankingProject.ch for the further development of the Finstar Open Banking Platform.